W
hat if ISO 17025was not a standard, but insteadwas a
technology that automated laboratory ‘best practices’?
What if following the regulations to the letter, often
without even thinking about it, actually led tobetter overall
business performance? In that case, it is likely every business
would aggressively deploy that technology.
‘That technology’ does indeed exist, and it is commonly
known as LIMS, short for a Laboratory InformationManagement
System, an essential datamanagement and enterprise
integration tool formanaging laboratoryworkflow, samples,
reporting and compliance requirements. Andwhilemany in the
oil and gas industry think of LIMS as away tomanage important
data, it is, in fact,muchmore than that. PaulaHollywoodof
ARCAdvisoryGroup recentlywrote that “hydrocarbonprocessing
laboratories arebecoming almost like third‑party service
laboratories […] thismeans that accreditationwith standards
such as ISO 17025 is no longer just nice tohave, but anecessity
to ensure conformance and customer satisfaction.”
A ‘necessity for customer satisfaction’ does not sound
anything like onerous regulation. Instead it sounds like a catalyst
Colin Thurston,
Thermo Fisher Scientific, UK,
uncovers the compliance and
efficiency bonuses for hydrocarbon
laboratories that can be realised
through the use of advanced Laboratory
InformationManagement
Systems (LIMS).
Thechallenges
of compliance
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